Brighton & Hove Albion Songs and Chants: From Albion to Follow, Follow, Follow

For a team like Brighton & Hove Albion, there hasn’t been an awful lot to sing about in recent years. It is not that the club has been unsuccessful because that definitely isn’t the case; it’s more that the days of being something of a yo-yo team have gone and they are now just an established Premier League side. They’re not good enough to challenge for the title, nor poor enough to mean that they will be relegation threatened at any point, whilst cup runs have been few and far between for the supporters. Instead, the club seems to just bobble along, doing well and surviving.

Even players are difficult for Seagulls fans to get behind, given the fact that part of the club’s raison d’être is to develop talented players before selling them for huge sums of money. They might well have come up with songs for Moisés Caicedo, for example, or Alexis Mac Allister, only for the two of them to depart for Chelsea and Liverpool, respectively. Not that there haven’t been some songs for players that still get given an airing when the Amex is in full swing, of course. Similarly, songs making fun of Crystal Palace are never in short supply, given the odd rivalry between the two sides.

Here is a look at some of the chants and songs that you might hear Brighton & Hove Albion supporters singing if you take a trip to the South Coast at any point. It is fair to say that the list is far from exhaustive, so don’t think that just because a song is missing from this list it means that it isn’t ever heard at the Amex or sung by away fans when the club is playing on the road.

Albion

Virtually every football club up and down the land has some variation of this chant, which is about the most simplistic that you can get. There is something slightly interesting about the Brighton version, insomuch as the supporters could’ve gone with ‘Brighton’ or ‘Albion’ and eventually chose to settle on the latter. So it is that if you attend a home game at the Amex or have Brighton at the football ground of the club that you support, you will soon hear them chanting the following:

Albion!

Albion!

Albion!

Albion!

Albion!

As said, it isn’t exactly the most exciting or interesting of chants, but it can give the team some much-needed energy at a time when they might otherwise be flagging.

Carlos Beleba

Brighton supporters know that they can’t develop any sort of emotional attachment to players because of the strong likelihood that they will depart as soon as other sides realise how talented they are. In many ways, that’s not a problem because it is literally the business model that Tony Bloom has developed since taking over. On the other hand, it is a shame given just how many absolute gems the Albion have seen come through the ranks over the years. With Carlos Beleba comes a good example of a player who impressed and caught the eye of others, meaning his song is a short-lived one:

Moving into space,

It’s Carlos Baleba!

Not a trace

Of doubt in my mind.

I’m in love,

Ohhhhhh,

Carlos Baleba,

He’s our midfielder,

In Blue & White!

Yakuba Minteh

Another player who the Brighton & Hove Albion faithful have enjoyed watching play over the years is Yakuba Minteh, who also has a song that works well with his name. The Liverpool supporters introduced the song to the Premier League when they signed Federico Chiesa, with other clubs since coming up with their own versions of it. As far as the Seagulls are concerned, it goes like this:

When the samba rhythm starts to play,

Dance with me,

Make me sway.

Yakuba Minteh running down the wing,

Scoring goals,

Makes the Brighton sing,

Da da da da da da da da da da da…

Kaoru Mitoma

Perhaps the exception that proves the rule when it comes to talented players leaving Brighton once their skill in the Premier League has been confirmed, Karou Mitoma is a Japanese player that supporters delighted in watching on a regular basis. Whilst the supporters of the club from Mitoma’s home country and equally further afield places might not recognise the tune that Mitoma’s song is sung to, English fans will no doubt be more than aware of the place that ‘My Old Man’s a Dustman’ holds in the country’s zeitgeist. Here are the words that are sung to the tune:

We all love Mitoma,

He’s got a lovely arse!

And when he scores a goal,

We say arigatou gozaimas!

Sussex By the Sea

Now is the song for marching,

Oh let your hearts be gay!

So let your voices ring, my boys,

And take the time for me!

And we’ll tell you a song

As we march along

Of Sussex by the sea!

If I Had the Wings of a Sparrow

There are numerous versions of this song that different supporters sing depending on their most fierce rivals, with Crystal Palace being the team that Brighton supporters have the biggest rivalry with. Whilst those on the outside will always struggle to understand how it is that the two teams have such a fierce rivalry, there is certainly no love lost between the two sets of fans. That is perhaps best demonstrated with the following song, which is certainly not suitable for young people to read, sing or listen to….

If I had wings of a sparrow!

If I had the arse of a crow,

I’d fly over Selhurst tomorrow,

And shit on the bastards below, below!

Shit on!

Shit on!

Shit on the bastards below! Below!

Knick Knack Paddy Whack

The Wings of a Sparrow song isn’t the only one about Crystal Palace that you can hear emanating from Brighton & Hove Albion supporters, somewhat unsurprisingly. There is also a claim about a former Palace manager having venereal disease that it’s fair to say has no basis in reality, as far as we’re aware. Here is what the Palace fans will sing:

P

A

L

A

C

E

Stevie Coppell’s got VD!

With a knick-knack

Paddy whack

Give a dog a bone.

Crystal Palace:

F**k off home

Hark Now

When the Christmas period comes around, it is not uncommon for football supporters to make an adaptation to a festive tune used especially for the period. If you imagined that Brighton & Hove Albion supporters might extend the hand of goodwill to their Crystal Palace rivals at the time of year, then you would be completely wrong. Here is how their Christmas ditty goes:

Hark now hear:

The Brighton sing!

The Palace run away.

Oh yes!

And we will fight forever more

Because of Boxing Day.

We Are Brighton

More than anything else, football fans love to show their support for the team and the pride that they have in them. That is where this tune comes from, with the lyrics being as follows:

We are Brighton,

Super Brighton,

From the south.

We are Brighton,

Super Brighton.

We Love You

That idea of offering love and support from the fans to the club can also be heard in the following chant, which is brought out from time to time in order to add to the atmosphere:

Brighton and Hove Albion.

Oh we love you.

The Sussex boys.

In white and blue.

Follow, Follow, Follow

The thing about football supporters is that they are a dedicated bunch, going all over the country and often to places in Europe and beyond in order to watch their chosen team play football. In the case of Brighton & Hove Albion, the supporters have a song that touches on that very fact, whilst also showing an appreciation for one of the players who has lined up in the club’s blue and white strip before. It goes as follows:

Follow, follow, follow,

Coz he’s better than Canivaro!

There’s nobody better

Than Jon Paul van Hecke,

The best-looking Dutchman I know!